"Didn't you want speed?" he asked, slowing down.
"Where are you going, James--home, or nowhere?"
"Well, we arrived there long ago. Now, go home--_your_ home."
"Sure, but I've got to catch that train----"
"Oh, you'll catch it--or something else. James?"
"Some day I want to take a look at that young woman who is cataloguing your collection."
"That's just what I want you to do now," he said cheerfully. "I'm taking her to New York this evening."
Aunt Hannah, astonished and out of countenance, remained mute, her sharp nose buried in her furs. She had been trapped, and she knew it. Then her eyes glittered:
"You're being talked about," she said with satisfaction. "So is she! Ha!"
"No. The good folk are only asking each other why you meet her at the station with your car. They think she carries antique gems in her satchel. Later they'll suspect who the real jewel is. Ha!"
"I like her; that's why I meet her," he said coolly.
"I sure do. She is some girl, dear lady."
"Do you think your pretense of guileless candour is disarming me, young man?"
"I haven't the slightest hope of disarming you or of concealing anything from you."
"Follows," she rejoined ironically, "that there's nothing to conceal. Bah!"
"Quite right; there is nothing to conceal."
"Initially, I want her to catalogue my collection; subsequently, I wish to remain friends with her. The latter wish is becoming a problem. I've an idea that you might solve it."
"_Friends_ with her," repeated Aunt Hannah. "Oh, my!
"'And angels whisper Lo! the pretty pair!'
"I suppose! Is that the hymn-tune, James?"
"What does she resemble--Venus, or Rosa Bonheur?"
"Then what do you see unusual about her?"
"Everything--he thinks! Oh, my sense of humour!"
"That," said Desboro, "is partly what I count on."
"Have you any remote and asinine notions of educating her and marrying her, and foisting her on your friends? There are a few fools still alive on earth, you know."
"So I've heard. I haven't the remotest idea of marrying her; she is better fitted to educate me than I am her. Not guilty on these two counts. But I had thought of foisting some of my friends on her. You, for example."
Aunt Hannah glared at him--that is, her tiny eyes became almost luminous, like the eyes of small animals at night, surprised by a sudden light.